With the death of Dianne Feinstein and the constant freezings of Mitch McConnell along with many others, people have started questioning the age of many high ranking officials and senators. And with both likely presidential candidates being part of the Baby Boomer and Silent Generations respectively, the issue is ever prescient. Many on both sides of the political aisle have proposed age limits in government, but have had their pleas unrecognized. This problem is highly apparent in local governments with young voters, like in Houston, Texas, where both candidates are in their 70s while the average age of the city is about 34. 

Joe Biden, 80, and Donald Trump, 77, both continue to try and cling to power in their respective parties despite both having constant health issues. So the question needs to be posed; should there be compulsory retirement for government leaders? Almost 75% of Americans believe yes. Highschool junior, Seira Lee, said “Yes, because older people are usually less competent.” Harvard law professor, Mark Tushnet, was quoted in an interview with WBUR – a Boston radio station – “We want judges who actually have some sense of what this new social media are like… you can’t apply the law unless you have a good sense of what the thing is that you’re dealing with.”

In more blue collar counties, like Douglas County, the flip side of a gerontocracy is true in labor-intensive industries like timber. For many older workers in the timber industry ageism is a common occurrence in the workplace; this is seen in wage cuts and lack of representation.